Johnny Gilbert Biography
Johnny Gilbert is an American showbiz personality best known for his work on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a variety of game shows dating back to the 1950s.
How old is Johnny Gilbert? – Age
He is 94 years old as of 13 July 2022. He was born in 1928 in Newport News, Virginia, United States.
Johnny Gilbert Family – Education
Despite the fact that his parents had never worked in the theater, his grandmother had been a church singer. Gilbert decided to pursue a professional singing career while still in high school and studied with an opera teacher.
Johnny Gilbert Wife
In 1984, Gilbert married his wife Sharee.
Johnny Gilbert Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $25 Million.
Johnny Gilbert Salary
He earns $4 million per season from Jeopardy.
Johnny Gilbert Jeopardy!
When Merv Griffin’s quiz show Jeopardy! was reintroduced to television as a daily syndicated program hosted by Alex Trebek in 1984, Trebek persuaded Griffin to hire Gilbert as an announcer; Trebek had met Gilbert at a dinner party in the early 1980s and was impressed with his voice. Gilbert has been the announcer since then. He became well-known for beginning each nightly episode of Jeopardy! with the announcement, “This is Jeopardy!” and (from 1984 to 2021) “…and now, here is the host of Jeopardy!, Alex Trebek!” (Mike Richards in 2021, followed by Ken Jennings and Mayim Bialik in 2022).
After 32 years with Jeopardy!, Gilbert was honored by Guinness World Records in 2017 for having the longest career as a game show announcer for a single show. Gilbert made a rare on-screen appearance just before the Final Jeopardy! segment of the episode, which aired on September 28, 2017 (season #34, show #7599, Austin Rogers’s third win). Since 1992, he has also been the main announcer for most Jeopardy video games, including a few game versions in which he voiced all of the clues and effectively hosted the entire game off-screen in place of Trebek. Gilbert considered retiring after Trebek’s death, but chose to stay in the role.
Gilbert has handled much of his announcer load remotely in recent years, with a Clue Crew member providing in-studio announcements that are replaced with Gilbert’s in post-production.
Gilbert has worked as a guest announcer on Jeopardysister !’s show, Wheel of Fortune, in addition to announcing for it. He made the announcement on the April Fools’ Day episode in 1997, as well as a few weeks of episodes in 2010 following the death of the show’s longtime announcer, Charlie O’Donnell. Gilbert also appeared on Wheel in late 1995, when O’Donnell was ill, and on the daytime show in 1988, shortly before the death of then-regular announcer Jack Clark.
Johnny Gilbert Host
Gilbert moved to New York City, where he quickly signed with the William Morris Agency and landed his first national television gig as the host of Music Bingo, a newly created game show. The show aired for three years on NBC and then on ABC. His success on the show prompted him to record an album and several singles. Gilbert went on to host the Los Angeles game show Words and Music on KTLA-TV.
Avco Broadcasting later approached Gilbert to host his own local talk/variety show, The Johnny Gilbert Show, which aired on WLWD-TV (now WDTN) in Dayton, Ohio, as well as three other Avco stations in Ohio and Indiana.
The show was a 90-minute live telecast that aired five days a week. It featured celebrity guests and a studio audience of 60 people. He hosted it for two years before abruptly leaving Dayton for New York, where he became the host of the Metromedia-produced game show Fast Draw. Phil Donahue, a reporter in WLWD-news TV’s department at the time, took his place.
Gilbert was contacted by Bing Crosby Productions after his yearlong run on Fast Draw to host the game show Beat the Odds, which was produced in Los Angeles by Bill Carruthers. Following that, he hosted a weekday edition of Dialing for Dollars on Los Angeles’ KCOP-TV.
Johnny Gilbert Movies
2020 – What is Jeopardy!?: Alex Trebek and America’s Most Popular Quiz Show
2018 – Game Changers
2005 – Jeopardy! An Inside Look at America’s Favorite Quiz
1996 – Ellen’s Energy Adventure
1992 – White Men Can’t Jump
1979 – Rock ‘n’ Roll High School
1967 – AVCO Hour of Stars
1961 – Gidget Goes Hawaiian
Johnny Gilbert TV Shows
2022-present – Inside Jeopardy!
2022 – Jeopardy! National College Championship
2022 – Celebrity Jeopardy!
2020 – Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time
2020 – Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?
2009 – The Florence Henderson Show
2009 – The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien
1999 – The Angry Beavers
1997 – Johnny Bravo
1995-2010 – Wheel of Fortune
1995 – Beverly Hills, 90210
1992 – The Golden Girls
1990-2000 – Supermarket Sweep
1990 – Cheers
1990 – The Finish Line
1990 – Super Jeopardy!
1990 – The Quiz Kids Challenge
1989 – 227 – Announcer
1988-1989 – Love Connection